Intelligent life found on Earth

I was pleased to hear that there was a sensible reaction from Professor Colin Pillinger to the discovery that he has multiple sclerosis. Unlike certain disabled celebrities that I can mention, he did not immediately demand that science pour all of its resources into finding a highly unlikely cure for his impairment. Instead, he insisted that his priority remains a further British expedition to Mars, acknowledging that this would be of a greater benefit to the promotion of science as a whole.

Nevertheless, I have one small caveat. A mission to Mars would still be an expensive luxury, a bid for headlines rather than the unglamorous but vital work of most scientists. Perhaps he should not ignore the issue of his MS after all but, instead of pushing for a miraculous cure, he should promote and celebrate the work that has been done, and continues to be done, to make life more bearable for people with the condition, such as medicines for pain relief as well as technologies that make the world accessible to people with MS. A space programme would certainly be a useful way of making science exciting and encouraging people to choose it for a career but we also need to remind people of its more mundane, but equally necessary achievements. Especially when they are considerably cheaper.